First of all, I apologize for the two-week silence. I’m down to crunch time at school, so I’ve had to limit my extracurricular activities. Finals are next week. After that, I’ll be back to posting once or twice per week.

When I started trying to make money online, getting scammed and losing money were major concerns for me. As a result, I took some steps to minimize my risk. Here are a few tips based on my experience:

I do not ever pay money to join a paid survey site or mystery shopping provider. Legitimate companies can be easily found with a Google search, and there is no reason for them to charge a fee. They get paid by the companies whose surveys you take.

Before I sign up with any site, I type their name, plus the word “scam,” or “fraud,” into a search engine (such as Google) to see what comes up. I decided not to join a couple of sites based on what I found out about them through a quick Google search.

I recently tried my luck as a mystery shopper. For those who don’t know, a mystery shopper visits businesses as an anonymous customer, and submits a report of their experience through a mystery shopping provider. Businesses that have been mystery shopped use the reports to improve the customer experience. Mystery shoppers typically receive compensation, usually including reimbursement for purchased items, as well as some extra money for their time. As with surveys, you shouldn’t quit your day job, but you can make a modest amount of extra money as a mystery shopper.

Back in February, I signed up for a mystery shopping provider that I had researched and trusted, SecretShopper.com. I completed their online training, passed a couple of tests, and scheduled my first job, which I completed last week. After visiting the store, I electronically submitted my report and a scanned copy of my receipt. The job took about three hours including drive time and report submission, but much of that was first-time learning. I expect that the next job will go much quicker.